A Small Triumph
by LitD
Summary: With the collapse of a nieghbours home two long time friends find themselves able to become nieghbours again.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from "Hetalia".**

Feliks pulled his _czapka_ lower to cover his ears and pulled the collar of his khaki great coat up in the hopes of keeping the cold out. It was an important day; one that he had been waiting for a long while now so it was only natural that the weather went bad, visibility was low and the temperature even lower but he stood outside his comfortable lodge looking out into the fog, his characteristic smirk gone as he awaited any sign that the expected guest was coming.

A wet thud echoed and the blonde lost his balance, his arms stretching wide to keep him upright. Laughter sounded and Feliks turned to face the noise and, as if on queue, the fog lifted enough for him to see a figure in a great coat, collar pulled up and forage cap pulled low.

'Erzsebet.'

He said, as if pleading.

'Sorry, sorry. It was too tempting.'

The brunette replied smiling, snow crunching under her boots as she covered the distance between the two. When Erzsebet came within arms reach a grin appeared, ear to ear, and before the girl knew what happened she was in the youths arms, getting a full view of the surrounding area as he pulled her into a hug, plucked her off her feet and twirled around.

'It is, like, so good to see you again!'

It took the girl a while to stop laughing long enough to ask to be put down and the two stood, gasping with wide grins on their faces.

'Right! I got booze and food waiting at the lodge. Lets get out of the cold…'

'Feliks, aren't you forgetting something?'

The blonde stopped, the grin vanishing instead replaced by a look of surprise following by a shift towards enlightment further accented by the slamming of one gloved hand into the other.

'The sign.'

'Exactly.'

Came the brunettes reply, already making her way towards a simple gate, a flagpole nearby and, some distance away, a mountain lodge much like the one Feliks had indicated moments before.

'I took the liberty of, like, removing Czechs stuff but thought you'd like to put the signs up yourself.'

Erzsebet smiled at the youth as they reached the gate, a ladder already waiting for the girl to climb up. She handed a package to Feliks who handed it back along with a hammer and nails once she was up. A few moments later she jumped down and stood back to admire her handiwork, her coat of arms now adorned the gate with another sign underneath declaring,

_Witamy na Wegrzech._

"Welcome to Hungary!"

She echoed the sign before turning quickly and grabbing Feliks in a bear hug.

'And it is so good to see you again!'

After a moment of restoring air to the youth's lungs the two made their way towards the inviting warmth of Feliks' mountain lodge.

'We'll, we did it. It took us a while but we're neighbours again!'

Feliks stated looking from one gate to the other.

'Too long.' – Erzsebet stated, the smile lessening. – 'If I was capable of forcing this issue before I could have helped… would have helped you with Ivan…'

'None of that!' – Came a fast reply, cutting off any other words. – 'You wanted to help and you managed to help despite Czechs best attempts otherwise. Besides I did beat the bastard good.'

Erzsebet, realizing she had entered a topic over which the youth became stubborn did not press the matter and the two made their way in relative silence, the snow crunching under foot being the only sound until Erzsebet looked in the direction of a smaller building and couldn't stop herself.

'Ponies!'

Russia once came up with a saying, "A Pole without a horse is like a body without a soul" The same could be said about the Hungarians as both had lengthy histories as accomplished riders, and the brunette decided she had to say hello to Feliks' ponies and did so for a while, till she felt a wet thud at the back of her head accompanied by laughter. She turned slowly to face a grinning Feliks who spread his arms wide.

'It was too tempting.'

Erzsebet did not reply, she smiled and began forming a snowball.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _______ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ __ __ _

Some time later the two fell into the lodge, coats soaked, faces red from the cold and laughing their heads off. The coats were soon hung out to dry and Feliks reappeared with steaming mugs. After that came a lengthy dinner with at least a dozen toasts to each other's health and the fact that they were neighbours again. Across Europe sabres were being rattle and dark clouds were gathering but for a short time both were happy to celebrate a small victory.

**Historical Notes: After the First World War both Poland and Hungary found themselves able to declare their independence. However Hungary was deemed co-responsible for the wars outbreak and treated as such, losing most of its territory and a large percentage of its population (millions of Hungarians were stuck outside its new borders). Poland used to sudden collapse of all three of its partitioners to declare its independence, though it had to fight for all of its borders. With the outbreak of the Polish-Soviet war Lithuania granted the USSR access through its territory to outflank the Polish northern front, Germany prayed for Poland's collapse, awaiting the Red Army like a liberator and dock workers in Western Europe sabotaged any attempts to send weapons or medical supplies. France and Britain decided not to send soldiers to help Poland, the United States sank back into isolationism while the Czechs invaded and occupied parts of Polish Silesia. Hungary offered to send a force of 30 thousand men to help Poland but were not granted permission to cross Czechoslovakia. Though they were not allowed send weapons either the Hungarians did manage to smuggle a few transports across.**

**In short Czechoslovakia did a good job of alienating itself in the region making an enemy of all its neighbours, using others difficulties and their own good ties with France to invade and occupy lands they had no ethnical nor political ties to (Slovakia, Ruthenia, Silesia). **

**In 1938, after France and Britain gave the Sudety to Germany but before Slovakia declared its independence, Poland and Hungary issued an ultimatum to the Czech regime; "Return the occupied lands or prepare for war" Prague accepted the terms. Poland reclaimed Cieszyn Silesia and the Hungarians reclaimed Far Ruthenia coming in contact with the Polish province of Galicia establishing a common border, a fact met with authentic joy and spontanious celebrations in both countries.**


End file.
